Effective Altruism

Effective Altruism

Princeton University

About this course: Effective altruism is built on the simple but unsettling idea that living a fully ethical life involves doing the most good one can. In this course you will examine this idea's philosophical underpinnings; meet remarkable people who have restructured their lives in accordance with it; and think about how effective altruism can be put into practice in your own life.

What obligations do the affluent have towards those who live in extreme poverty? In this week, we look at one distinct argument based on consequentialist ethics, and also begin the discussion of the effectiveness of aid programs. This week also includes a conversation with Raymond Offenheiser.

How do you get the most value for your charitable dollars? How can you compare different causes to each other, and how do you compare different charities to each other? The guest in this week is Elie Hassenfeld from GiveWell, an organization that tries to find the answers to these questions.

In this last week, we circle back to some foundational questions in ethics. What is the relationship between rationality, self-interest and ethics? How demanding is morality, and why exactly should be try to live an ethical life? In this week you will also find the final essay assignment.

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Creators

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.

Ratings and Reviews

Rated 4.7 out of 5 of 218 ratings

Excellent material on a much needed topic. The course brought together a good number of strong and important ideas, well backed by research and with very interesting and relevant guest speakers.

Excellent course, great experience, thank you so much to offer this course.

Want to think and act in an broader and much more responsible way? They this course is for you.

AW

An excellent course on philosophical topics related to altruism. Also, a practical guide that can help steer charity from less to more worthy causes.